CPCAB and the Open University - joint Foundation Degree

A quick reminder that the deadline for registering an interest in the Foundation Degree in order to be eligible for transitional fees expired on 30th September.

Another important piece of information is that from now on all new foundation degree candidates will be required to finish their CPCAB Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling BEFORE they start to work on their Open University modules, which should commence with module D240 - Counselling: exploring fear and sadness. This is due to a policy change at the OU which now requires students to register for a particular qualification and to complete one level of study before moving on to the next. Candidates already working towards this, or other OU qualifications, will be able to continue their study in the usual way.

BIS funds for mature learners

You may be interested to read the following article which was helpfully circulated by the Federation of Awarding Bodies in a newsletter during the summer.

“This week BIS announced a new £50 million bursary scheme to support mature students with learning difficulties or disabilities, parents who need help with childcare and ex-military personnel in further education to help meet costs such as childcare, travel, books and equipment. This is linked to the 24+ Advanced Learning Loans from next year. More details are on the BIS website.”

If you haven’t already seen CPCAB’s guide to funding, you can download it from our website. There have been some small but significant changes to the guide in the last few weeks so it might be useful to look through it again.

Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling - client hours

For students on TC-L4 Diploma courses it is often the case that you might require time beyond the end of the course in order to complete the 100 client hours. A one year extension is available for this.

Occasionally things happen during that year which means that you might be just short of completing when the one year is up. If this is the case, then please do not assume that you can have a further extension into the next year. Please contact your tutor, explain the situation and request a further extension. Your tutor will then negotiate a new deadline with CPCAB. A late request for a Diploma (ie after the one year permitted) may result in the Diploma not being issued.

Link with BACP

Our Head of Qualifications Fiona Ballantine Dykes, in her private capacity as a senior accredited member of BACP, has stood and been elected as a member of the BACP Board of Governors. This will be ratified at the AGM on 17th November. Fiona has applied to join the board with the stated intention of trying to raise the profile of vocational training.

CPCAB annual conference

A reminder that CPCAB will be presenting its 2013 conference, “Celebrating Counselling”, on 26th and 27th April 2013. With Professor Mick Cooper and Camila Batmanghelidjh of ‘Kids Company’ plus other prestigious speakers, this is an event not to be missed - make a note in your diary!

Further details, including venue, to be announced very soon on our conference website.

Humour

Counsellor: ‘So ... when did you first realise that you had these awful problems?’

Client: ‘Just now, when you told me!’

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Woman to friend ... “Marriage counselling? No need: we're a perfect couple. He did communications at university and I did theatre studies, so he talks and I act like I'm listening.“